In the closing days of World War II, a small German town comes into focus as United States Army forces advance in its direction. In the town's school, seven boys—each about 16 years old—are oblivious to the seriousness and dangers of the war, feeling excitement about how close the fighting is getting to them, and they live their lives as normally as they can, though they are overshadowed with personal problems: Karl, who has a crush on his hairstylist father's young assistant, is shocked to see them in an intimate situation; Klaus is oblivious to the affections of his classmate Franziska; and Walter is deeply resentful of his father, the local Nazi Party ''Ortsgruppenleiter'', who has chosen to save his own skin under the pretense of an important ''Volkssturm'' meeting. Jürgen is the son of a German officer who has been killed in action, and hopes to live up to his father's reputation.